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Nintendo’s new Switch Console could be a total flop

Switch is Nintendo's attempt to get back in the game, literally.

Nintendo is making a big, bold entry into the gaming market with its newest piece of video game hardward called the Nintendo Switch. But early on, critics aren’t terribly impressed with the new platform.

Switch aims to be a good bit different from current generation consoles by being a shape-changing platform that can turn into both a home-based machine and a portable device. The official launch date isn’t until March with no price tag set yet, but some investors have gotten to take the new gaming system for a spin, and the bad early reviews sent Nintendo’s shares plummeting 7 percent on Friday, according to reports.

The Nintendo Switch is meant to be an all-in-one glaming platform with removable controllers and a screen that can be plugged into the TV or taken with you for gaming on the go. Nintendo has been struggling to compete in the consoles market with Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s Playstation in the years since it released the innovative Wii back in the mid 2000s. The Wii U landed flat and sales of Xbox One and Playstation 4 have surged compared to Nintendo’s offerings.

The main reason Nintendo struggled is not because of competition from the consoles, but from mobile phones, which were able to do a lot of the things that the Wii could. Hardcore gamers stuck to the Playstation and Xbox, but the casual gamers who enjoyed the Wii abandoned it for mobile games.

Switch is Nintendo’s attempt to get back in the game, literally. Nintendo knows it probably can’t knock Sony and Microsoft out of the top spots for the hardcore gamers, so they’re going back to trying to appeal to casual gamers. The Switch is aimed at people who want to play on dedicated hardware, but not enough to spend all day in a room with a console just playing.

Early reviews aren’t promising so far, but Nintendo still has a few months to right the ship and get back into the market.